Has anyone noticed problems with heavy gauge strings?

[Metaltastic]

At which distance do you have your strings from EMG's (9volt, measured between top of pu and bottom of the strings)?

Well for the Guitar Tone competition DI's, it was probably around 1cm - as for now, well, a pic is worth a thousand words!

And you may not have trouble doing the pinch harmonics, but it's the crazy vibrato I was more referring to Or maybe you can do the vibrato on a .59 with as much width and control on the 3rd fret as I did in the video above, in which case you're more of a man than me!

 

[Metaltastic]

And for anyone who's curious, here are the DI's being referred to here, and my guitar is a mahogany body (not particularly thick, though) with a thick maple top (~1 cm in the center of the body, since it's an arch-top) and a bolt-on maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Also, it's a $1500 guitar from their Prestige line, so probably (hopefully!) it's high-quality wood

 

[::XeS::]

Marcus, the distance in that pics is the 18v version, right?
Ah...you have a PM... so if you wanna demonstrate me you're the man, you're welcome joke, of course

 

[Metaltastic]

Well I didn't change the distance between 9v and 18v (just the wiring), so it was the same for both. And yeah, I'll look over that GP5 file today and see what I can do!

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Oh yeah, and what I mean by "cock and balls" is that they lose too much clarity and definition. No bite.
It's like being thumped on the head with a 2x4 instead of being stabbed with a spike.

I have always consider being thumped on the head with 2x4 a good thing.

 

[vrtkll]

My bridge pickup is a heck of a lot closer than that. I normally raise my emg's as high as I can. Just so long as it doesn't cause any interference in playing.

 

[Metaltastic]

Well, I'd still say I have it pretty durn close, and yeah, occasionally when I'm doing crazy expressive soloing my pick can scratch over the pickup if I have it any higher (picking at different spots on the strings for different tonalities, it's a musical choice, not a technique issue - that's my story and I'm sticking to it! )

 

[nwright]

IMO, EMG's sound a heck of a lot better/fuller in all aspects farther from the strings. I run my bridge 81's at 18 volts and the pickup is sitting about 1 or 2 mm above the pickup ring (I play ESP Vipers and the pickup ring on the bridge is the taller bridge LP type ring).

 

[Erkan]

Most importantly though Marcus, do you still have those sideburns?

Good thread btw, gives me something to think about now that I'm down to 64 on my lowest string, haha

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

A standard 16-72

Yep that's how I roll.

 

[Temps]

I don't think it is the strings. My Jackson SLS came stock with something pathetic like 8-42s and sounded flabby and weak in E standard with the stock 59s. All I did is change the strings to 10-52 Elixirs and it sounded ballsy as hell with no other changes. Could be crappy wiring, cables... Are the strings fresh?

 

[Metaltastic]

IMO, EMG's sound a heck of a lot better/fuller in all aspects farther from the strings. I run my bridge 81's at 18 volts and the pickup is sitting about 1 or 2 mm above the pickup ring (I play ESP Vipers and the pickup ring on the bridge is the taller bridge LP type ring).

Ack, not me, IMO my 81 and 85 (and at both 9 and 18 volts) sounded muffled, weak, and lifeless before I raised 'em!

Most importantly though Marcus, do you still have those sideburns?

Good thread btw, gives me something to think about now that I'm down to 64 on my lowest string, haha

Haha, nope, now that I'm beginning the job search I'm sticking with the grizzled stubble look

 

[Agonal]

when you go too thick you definitely loose clarity and bite (and you will probably get arthritis) . At least if your going for that tight mechanical sound and not the sludgy, muddy sound.

 

[STINNETT]

I don't think it is the strings. My Jackson SLS came stock with something pathetic like 8-42s and sounded flabby and weak in E standard with the stock 59s. All I did is change the strings to 10-52 Elixirs and it sounded ballsy as hell with no other changes. Could be crappy wiring, cables... Are the strings fresh?

Yeah, bigger strings sound better up to a point. But then it starts going backwards on you I think. I like a 46 for standard tuning, a 52 for D or perhaps C (which I never play in). I've used a 56 before for tuning to B, and it was acceptable, but far from ideal. I think a lighter string sounded better, but felt much worse and wasn't as stable. For me that's a sign that I'm just not going to tune that low on that guitar - because I can't get an acceptable tension out of a decent sounding string gauge.

 

[Instant_Noodles]

Yeah, bigger strings sound better up to a point. But then it starts going backwards on you I think. I like a 46 for standard tuning, a 52 for D or perhaps C (which I never play in). I've used a 56 before for tuning to B, and it was acceptable, but far from ideal. I think a lighter string sounded better, but felt much worse and wasn't as stable. For me that's a sign that I'm just not going to tune that low on that guitar - because I can't get an acceptable tension out of a decent sounding string gauge.

I also use 10-46 for E Standard. If I have to use drop tuning (2nd album of my band will down to whole Step), I will use 11-52 for D tuning. And that's the limit of mine. No more lower tuning because I don't want to fight with my bassist The heavy attitude in music comes from your hand and the way you write the riffs (IMO). Example: Cowboys from hell is recorded in E Standard, but that's so brutal! :|

 

[fabz]

I use Gibson L5 12-56 (pure nickel wound jazz strings) for drop C and standard C tuning. Used to use 11 - 70 for std. C before but that was too brutal for my small fingers. The Gibsons are the best strings i ever used. They sound full, not too sharp and the clarity stays the same even after hours of playing.

 

[John_C]

"With the popularity of dropped and altered tunings we often talk to players who assume that they will achieve a lower pitch simply by buying a thicker string. Often this does not solve the problem because the core wire in the thicker string is the same diameter as the core in the standard string, and therefore will feel too slack if a considerably lower tuning than standard is desired. So we make a string with a larger diameter core which will tune to the desired pitch and still have the tension of a standard tuning string"

from newtone strings

 

[Rex Rocker]

I use 11-52 in Drop C.

I personally like the feel of thicker strings, but not the tone, so I just stick to these, not-so-thick, not-so-thin strings in the tuning that I use.

BTW, I love my Ibby's 25.1" scale!

 

[::XeS::]

Ok...last night I ask to a friend (good guitar player from the band The Modern Age Slavery) to record short DI's for me. He uses Schecter C1 with EMG's and heavy gauge strings (pretty the same I use).
This is the reamp with the same settings of my last reamp with Marcus DI's : http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/4/2252209/Sym.mp3

I think it turned out very good...a little bassy than the Marcus Ibanez, but good. (It could depend on hands, etc,etc,etc...)
So I thougth it's my guitar/strings the problem...but his Schecter is a Baritone, so the strings work better with low tunings than mine.
Last night I also spoke with another friend that said me he changed string's brand. Now he uses 12-56 from Ernie Ball and he said that his sound changed brutally with them: more clarity, less muddy and way way better than D'Addario.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I'm in A-E-A-D-G-B-E on my seven, and the low A is a 70...sounds great, and I think the tension is great as well...not flabby, but enough give to be expressive when appropriate. Loomis has the 70 on his low string, which is in B.